July 2019

| 24 | July 2019 www.smartmachinesandfactories.com | SOLUTIONS | Chris Elsworthy, CEL-UK’s MD and lead mechanical engineer, explains what it takes to stack printers effectively and how design workflows can benefit from this simple yet innovative approach to 3D printing. T he art of stacking 3D printers: how SMEs can achieve faster and more affordable rapid prototyping 3D printing is too often seen by Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as a technology beyond their reach. There is, however, a simple way to challenge this assumption and make 3D printers more accessible to companies of any size: it’s called stacking. Businesses in the UK, particularly SMEs, have generally been quite slow at adopting 3D printing. And many cite cost and lack of skills as two of the main barriers standing between them and this technology. Stacking 3D printers, however, has the potential to help SMEs boost speed, efficiency and accuracy in 3D printing at a cost they can afford. But what is a 3D printer stack? And how does it work? Essentially, stacking means connecting several smaller 3D printers instead of using just one larger machine. The printers are normally placed one on top of the other and files can be sent to each of them in turn using the same interface, through a network or a connected workstation. There are at least five valid reasons why a similar setup can be a great fit for SMEs. 1. Start small, think big It may sound obvious, but smaller, stackable 3D printers are The art of stacking 3D printers